AURORA | Aurora police said three people were killed and two others were injured after the driver of a van had some kind of medical emergency before striking multiple pedestrians on East Iliff Avenue in the eastern portion of the city Wednesday afternoon.
In a series of tweets, police reported that a 2003 Chevy Astro van struck multiple pedestrians of unknown ages near the intersection of Iliff and South Buckley Road around 1:30 p.m. Oct. 13.
About 40 minutes later, authorities confirmed that two of the pedestrians that had been hit and the driver of a vehicle involved in the collision had died. Two additional people were reported to be injured, though the extent of their wounds was not immediately released.
Aurora Officer Francisco Saucedo told reporters Wednesday afternoon that a passenger, who was in the car that crashed, believed the person driving experienced some sort of unknown medical event and lost control of the vehicle.
“The van ran off the road, onto the sidewalk and struck the pedestrians,” Saucedo said. “The van came to a complete stop after crashing into a tree.”
The three people who were killed were all adults, though their names and ages were not immediately available.
The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office will be tasked with identifying the people who died in the coming days.
The westbound lanes of Iliff have been shutdown at the intersection of South Pagosa Way, which is just east of the more central junction with Buckley.
Wish thathe passenger could have grabbed the steering wheel andirected the vehicle away from the pedestrians. (Taught myvife to do that should I ever suffer such an event. Instructed her to place the automatic transmission in first gear.)
Manyears ago my friend was exiting NB I-25 at Colorado Blvd.
“Why are we getting off here?” I asked before confronting,“Why no turn signal?”
From his facial grimace I couldiscern that he was having a petit mal seizure.
His car was drifting to the right off I-25 just as the off-ramp began.
Guided hisubcompact car to the right shoulder and gently pulled on the hand brake luckily in the center console.
After hiseizure he drove home.
Told him he must go to an MD and get hiseizures under control before driving again.